Britain has barred Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan after he threatened to burn a copy of the Quran on a planned visit to Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
According to the BBC, Paludan’s intended gesture was a response to the suspension of four pupils at a Wakefield school over damage to a copy of the Quran.
In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday, Paludan said he would travel to the city to ‘fight back’ against ‘undemocratic forces’.
However, UK security minister Tom Tugendhat told the House of Commons that Paludan’s ‘travel to the United Kingdom would not be conducive with the public good and he will not be allowed access’.
The BBC says that Paludan, founder of the anti-Islam party Stram Kurs, has held several previous protests in which the Islamic text was burned, with some leading to violent counter-demonstrations.
In January he burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
According to the BBC, that protest became part of a diplomatic row between Turkey and Sweden – with Turkey now holding up Sweden’s application to join Nato.
Paludan’s attention was evidently drawn to Wakefield when four pupils were suspended from the city’s Kettlethorpe High School in February after a student brought in a Quran, reportedly as part of a dare.
The cover of the Islamic text had been torn and some pages scuffed, but police concluded no offences were committed and the school’s headteacher said she was satisfied there was ‘no malicious intent by those involved’.
The subject of Paludan’s intended visit was raised in the House of Commons by Labour MP for Wakefield Simon Lightwood who said of Paludan that he was ‘a dangerous man that should not be allowed into this country’, and who had previously been jailed in Denmark ‘for his hateful and racist statements’.